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Sep 27, 2024 | 
christiancentury.org | Ron Adams |Heather Hahn |Randall Balmer |Debie Thomas
To receive these posts by email each Monday, sign up. For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century. I have never been a hellfire-and-brimstone preacher. Having grown up in a theological tradition that used fear as one of its primary evangelistic tools, I long ago grew weary of it. Frankly, that kind of motivation never felt to me like good news.
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Sep 23, 2024 | 
christiancentury.org | Heather Hahn |Debie Thomas |Richard Kauffman |Ron Adams
Psalm 124 is one of a small collection of psalms identified as songs of ascent. Or, as commentator John H. Hayes calls them, “songs of pilgrimage.” These are liturgical pieces intended for public acts of worship, to be sung or recited while the congregation makes its way to its gathering place. They begin with a call from the worship leader, followed by the response of the congregation. In Psalm 124 we catch a glimpse of something ancient and profound: God’s people testifying.
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Sep 20, 2024 | 
christiancentury.org | Ron Adams |Debie Thomas |Richard Kauffman |Peter W. Marty
To receive these posts by email each Monday, sign up. For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century. Earlier this year I offered our congregation a five-session study of the Bible. The focus was on what the Bible is, where it came from, who wrote it, and how it came down to us in multiple English language versions. It was a lot of work.
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Sep 16, 2024 | 
christiancentury.org | Debie Thomas |Richard Kauffman |Ron Adams
Carl Ruby, center, and other church representatives hug members of the Haitian community during a service at Central Christian Church in Springfield, Ohio, on September 15. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post) “Jesus said that he is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is with us in truth. And the truth is that Haitians are not eating pets in Springfield,” said senior pastor Carl Ruby, gripping the pulpit of Central Christian Church in Springfield, Ohio.
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Sep 16, 2024 | 
christiancentury.org | Debie Thomas |Richard Kauffman |Ron Adams
Many years ago I attended a conference sponsored by the Pennsylvania Council of Churches. It was an annual event featuring keynote speakers, workshops, and some truly memorable convention food. This particular conference featured Jewish New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine as the keynote speaker. She was smart and funny and edgy and everything you want in a conference speaker. At one point Levine told us about her son. He was a little boy then. He had curly hair, she said. Altogether adorable.
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Sep 13, 2024 | 
christiancentury.org | Debie Thomas |Richard Kauffman |Melissa Florer-Bixler |Ron Adams
Most of us have participated in conversations in which someone mentions a discouraging political trend or societal crisis of the day. That’s usually when other participants weigh in with their own take on present gloom. From there the shape of the conversation deteriorates rapidly. Good cheer gets replaced by a cloud of pessimism. Only a shift to idle chatter about the weather tends to rescue the moment. Despair is easy to come by in anxious and divided times. But there is another way.
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Sep 13, 2024 | 
christiancentury.org | Ron Adams |Debie Thomas |Richard Kauffman |Melissa Florer-Bixler
To receive these posts by email each Monday, sign up. For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century. I’ve been a working preacher for 27 years. I’ve preached around 25 Christmas and Easter sermons, nearly 60 funerals, and close to 25 weddings. I’ve been through the lectionary cycle almost 9 times. You’d think I’d know how to preach by now.
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Sep 11, 2024 | 
christiancentury.org | Debie Thomas |Melissa Florer-Bixler |Philip Jenkins |Ron Adams
The defamation lawsuit brought against Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary by the school’s former president, Adam M. Greenway, has come to an abrupt conclusion—with Greenway receiving none of the compensation he sought. On September 9, seminary officials announced they had signed an agreement with Greenway, who has made repeated claims that his former employer defamed him and owes him millions of dollars.
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Sep 9, 2024 | 
christiancentury.org | Debie Thomas |Philip Jenkins |Jack Jenkins |Ron Adams
I am a manuscript preacher. I learned very early that if I speak extemporaneously about anything important, I’ll spend the next 72 hours trying to remember what I said. Sometimes with anxiety, convinced I said too much. Sometimes with frustration, convinced I left out something vital. But with my trusty manuscript, I can review and perseverate in peace. Because I know that, for better or worse, that’s exactly what I said. I used to wonder whether anyone heard me when I preached.
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Sep 5, 2024 | 
christiancentury.org | Debie Thomas |Melissa Florer-Bixler |Ron Adams |Richard Kauffman
Even as a nine-year-old, the precocious Emily Dickinson had a special love of botany. To use a technical word like botany might seem a stretch when considering a mere child. But not for this poet-to-be. A fiery fascination lit up her widening glimpses of New England vegetation and bird lore and ground life.
